Sphinx

It was Renarin. The princes are always guarded in the sense that in order to reach them, people have to get through guards, and if they leave home they're accompanied by bodyguards. They're not under 24/7 surveillance, particularly during the highstorms when the entire family is in one place, and therefore relatively easily guarded and contained. Rereading the book, it becomes pretty clear that Renarin has access to all the locations the writings show up in. He could easily have Dalinar's knife. No one would question his presence there, but because Dalinar is known for having visions, it's much more natural to assume that he's the culprit. I don't think Renarin's using illumination to hide what he's doing, I think it's just that during the highstorms when it seems to be happening, everyone's usually completely distracted by duties/Dalinar/assassins, and Renarin's left to his own devices. Renarin gets overlooked a lot. The quality of the handwriting is also something that would make a lot of sense for Renarin. Renarin's been subtly encouraged towards the ardentia, so we can expect that he knows glyphs. The quality of the work is shaky, as one might expect from someone very emotionally disturbed by what he was doing, or with epilepsy. I vaguely remember Renarin's glasses disappearing quite early on, then reappearing, before seeming to vanish for good. Even if this weren't the case, it may have taken some time for his mental view of himself brought him to a place where stormlight healed his eyesight, or even until he breathed in enough stormlight to be able to heal it. Unless he did it while learning regrowth. Edited to add the most important piece of evidence: Renarin pretty much confesses that it has been him all along, but that he did not want to admit it because he thought telling the future was of the Voidbringers and what with that and the screaming shardblade he thought he was going insane. Lightweaving is what Shallan does. Illumination is the surge. We actually don't know enough about how the abilities develop or interact to state that all Lightweavers learn illumination first or learn transformation first. It's likely that Shallan used illumination before transformation, but it's not at all clear that Jasnah would have used transformation before teleportation. Which raises an interesting question. We've seen both Illumination and Progression in action. Renarin's predictions do not neatly fit our understanding of either. My pet theory is that they're a product of both, much like Shallan's inspiration of others is called transformation by Pattern, which she uses illumination to help achieve.

Sifa's reaction to the news was a slight smile before she gave a nod of approval at the charges against Elo. She had suspected him for some time now, and not, as the bard had tried to insinuate, because she had any concerns over his ability to seriously rival her master's business. Perhaps soon they would be able to resume negotiations. What would that mean for her? She eyed Aodan's grim expression thoughtfully, then moved to look down at Wyrm. "Thank you for your sacrifice" she murmured quietly. The one downside is that this means less information to go on from this day cycle.

There are some hints that Shallan is developing a physical attraction to Kaladin, as at one point she breaks off contemplating Adolin to think about how attractive Kaladin is in a strong, dark, brooding sort of way. I think it has more significance that she is thinking about this long after she first saw him, when his attractiveness doesn't even seem to have registered with her, as opposed to her attraction to Adolin which starts out really strong. I agree with you otherwise, and I'm curious to see how everything develops.

I guess I don't think there's a problem with trying to be someone better than you currently are rather than being yourself when A) You don't know who you are, and You believe that your true self is an emotionally traumatized child who just curls up and cries. Shallan uses the various images to explore herself, and to explore her options. She uses her illusions to support her projection of herself in an attempt to figure out who she is and what she is capable of and to accomplish her goals. She looks at Shallan-as-she-could-have-been and chooses to be that person. She even notices that Veil is basically Shallan-with-dark-hair and the freedom of movement that that gives her. She tries pretending she's someone she isn't with Adolin, and starts to discover that she can't maintain it, and that he actually enjoys her real self. Jasnah talks at the beginning about how much of power and authority is an illusion. Shallan uses actual illusions to help support her power and authority, and she discovers that as she acts more confident, she grows into that. She uses them to make people pay attention to her and take her seriously. I really don't see anything hypocritical about that. I actually feel like at the end she's much more honest. She talks to Navani about research, to the others about the Knights Radiant. She's upfront about what she wants and why. It's not like anyone had a ton of time for sitting around and spelling everything out to each other, and just because the book ended doesn't mean that Shallan's explanations did as well. Though they kind of have bigger concerns. It's not like she's out to deceive Adolin or hide it from him, she's just focused on trying to save the world. She confronts a major truth about her past, and she also has her deception of the ghostbloods ended.

Commenting the likeability of fictional characters always gets weird. I find Shallan an interesting, sympathetic, and compelling character, but whether I'd actually like a flesh and blood Shallan standing in front of me without a narrative perspective on her thoughts and motivations isn't entirely clearcut. I think I might be put off by her facade of superficiality, and possibly feel intimidated by her artistic talent. I really really enjoy Shallan's narrative arc and it's exploration of fiction, creativity, and truth. The interplay between fantasy and truth is something that has fascinated me as long as I can remember, and so I enjoyed seeing a reflection of that in the use of "truths" and "lies" and using the latter to expand the former. I think thinking of Shallan as a straight up "liar" is flawed, and takes the language of those seeking to discredit "liespren" too much at face value. Shallan's story, to me, is about the power of choosing your narrative and the interplay of truths filtered through perspective and experience. To address some of your particular concerns, she "lets" Tyn teach her, because there really isn't much in the way of alternative. Tyn is clearly a dangerous and capable woman, and Shallan's grip on her soldiers is balanced on a mix of illusion, inspiration and desperation. To deny Tyn's offer of tutelage and assistance would open herself up to Tyn exposing and shattering her illusion, wrecking her chances of reaching the shattered plains. So she takes the opportunity to learn. Partly because it's fun, and she likes Tyn. Partly because it is useful to better learn how to present herself. Partly because she has to. It's worth noting, however, that Shallan resists Tyn's lessons in cynicism. It's something she's already learned, after all, and something she doesn't want. She knows the world is a cruel place, she's had ideals crushed, and she chooses to smile anyway. As others have pointed out, she has very little reason to trust the Kholins without Jasnah, and she has very little reason to expect them to trust her. She also is trying to figure out who she is, and fears being protected and losing the independence she is just beginning to enjoy. It would be wonderful if all the nice people would just talk openly and candidly with one another and put all their cards on the table. But it would be incredibly unrealistic for it to happen sooner than it does. With the Ghostbloods, she had an opportunity drop into her lap to develop her understanding of her father, to learn more about Jasnah, and to gain knowledge to save the world. She's the only one who can really take advantage of it. Is she walking down a potentially dangerous path? Certainly. But she's doing it for good reasons. She wants to learn the truth, and she wants to use that knowledge to protect those she loves and save the world. I'm concerned for her, but we'll have to wait and see how she proceeds from here. She may not continue to keep the Ghostbloods a secret. The Ghostbloods are an elusive group, and it's likely that if she'd revealed them to the Kholins earlier most of the group would have managed to evade capture, and they would be left with no information. There wasn't exactly time to have a heart to heart with Adolin when Shallan was coming forward about being a radiant. Shallan's been pretty upfront about her desires from her relationship with Adolin, and she is attracted to him, even if her affections may be getting directed elsewhere. One could argue that Shallan's mother is to blame for her family's problems. One could also argue that if Pattern had never shown up, Shallan would have had a happy normal childhood. It's a complicated, emotionally fraught situation and one Shallan has been suffering under for most of her life. It's not reasonable of her to say she hates Pattern, but I suspect it's more an outburst at his forcing her to confront a horrific memory. Expecting Shallan to just assign all the blame to her mother, who she loved and killed in self defense with Pattern's help, is also unreasonable. Shallan certainly has flaws, and she has the potential to go very much astray from the knight radiant ideals, but I do like and admire her character and narrative arc. It's also perfectly fine for people to disagree!

It's cool to go after inactive people (or people you think are inactive? I probably should have picked a name closer to my username), but, uh, we do actually have some other discussion going on right now (or we did on the first couple of pages before things got a bit derailed) so waltzing in and just asserting voting for inactives instead of participating in the discussion is a bit odd. Looking back over the votes, I have to say that both Peng and Tril are creeping up my suspect list for reasons similar to what both Ben and Summon have expressed. I definitely would like to see a response from Rick as well. Vote's staying on Elo for now, and I'll post something more rply when I'm not snatching a few minutes from packing. Rick: Summon, Dirt, Grim: Sart, Nard Thomas: Wyrm Elo: Sifa Chide: Peng Cog: Gammer Tril: Ben Wyrm: Cog Sifa: Tril

I think it's worth noting that Hoid is not a Lightweaver. He does have powers that are markedly similar to at least the illusion powers of Lightweavers. Per WoB Hoid is also capable, like Kaladin, of healing spiritual wounds from shardblades. In that sense, we already have an example of "non uniqueness" in an order of knights radiant. Furthermore Hoid, particularly, is a very powerful being and we know very little in the way of the details of what he is capable of, and how. For the Elsecallers to be able to manipulate Shadesmar on a similar to the millenia-old Hoid increases the impressiveness of their powers, rather than diminishing them. "Anyone" who can manipulate Shadesmar may be able to teleport in a similar manner to the Elsecallers, but I'd argue that this is a very exclusive set of people. We honestly do not know very much about World Hopping, nor do we know much about Transportation as a surge. We know that it is "The Surge of Motion and Realmatic Transition" but that implies that there is more to it than just "teleportation." Elsecallers and Willshapers may have an advantage in their ability to pinpoint locations, bring people and items with them, or even survive in Shadesmar for extended periods of time. They may also be able to manipulate motion in ways that we haven't seen yet. Furthermore, there's clearly more to the Surges than just one particular power. Spoilers for Words of Radiance in the tags: While the magic systems in different worlds are fueled by different shards, it's worth remembering that these shards were once part of a greater whole. Therefore we should not be surprised if some of the powers bear at least superficial similarities, or have similar results, although the physical focus of the powers may end up being vastly different. Some of the passages in the Ars Arcanum comment on the similar results and theorize on what this implies for the underlying workings of the interactions between the physical, spiritual and cognitive realms. Trying to puzzle out what the similiarites mean for the cosmere world just greatly increases the coolness factor, in my opinion. Ultimately, I don't think the Elsecallers sharing the ability to worldhop with a select group of highly talented and powerful individuals diminishes their coolness factor, both because worldhopping is still a really cool thing to be able to do, and because Elsecallers likely have some other things going on that we don't know about yet. And yes, Hoid is particularly special and being comparable to him shouldn't diminish anyone's coolness factor.

To get more detailed (mind you, I may be misremembering some things), the story about Merlin and the collapsing tower and the dragons which is usually associated with him and the origin of his half-demon birth in it's earliest known written form was associated with Ambrosius Aurelianus (Gildas cites him as a fifth century Roman-Briton who won a major battle against the saxons) in Nennius's Historia Brittonum. Geoffrey of Monmouth seems to have combined this legend with the welsh prophet Myrddin as Ambrosius (or Emrys) Merlin. To make things more confusing, Geoffrey also has Aurelius Ambrosius as Uther Pendragon's brother, who becomes friends with Merlin. This conflation of two legends and the subsequent adaptations and reinventions in the more traditional romantic legends has led to modern reinterpretations that are trying to get back to a pseudo-historical Arthur treating Merlin in a number of ways. Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset (which I absolutely recommend) doesn't have Merlin at all, in favour of Ambrosius, Arthur's uncle/mentor figure. Gillian Bradshaw's "Down the Long Wind" trilogy that starts with Hawk of May brings in more Welsh legends in the form of Taliesin, who sort of pops in and out of the books, primarily as a prophet/mentor/good advice dispenser but it's made clear that he is also a more than capable warrior. I don't think Aurelius features at all. Elizabeth Wein gets into some inventive interpretation of the Aurelius/Pendragon/Constans dynasty in The Winter Prince, I don't really remember how (or if) she treats Merlin explicitly, because it has been a decade or so since I've read that; I remember enjoying it at the time.

It can be interesting to see how people choose to interpret or deconstruct things, but I'll admit it gets on my nerves when people claim to be trying to recreate a historical arthur and then blatantly contradict history or when people borrow randomly from different arthurian traditions without much consistency. I can also get a bit judgey depending on how people handle the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot/Bedwyr love triangle. Or Lancelot period. Out of random curiosity, (and apologies to the OP for derailing) have you read any of Rosemary Sutcliff or Gillian Bradshaw's arthurian works?

Err, which classic story of Merlin are you referring to? the crazy oracle from the Welsh legends? Geoffrey of Monmouth's? The Vulgate Cycle? Thomas Malory's? You seem to be conflating the TV series Merlin with the classical Merlin story. From what I know of the show (I haven't watched it), while borrowing some imagery, names and themes from the arthurian tradition, the result is incredibly different. Not least of which because in most classical portrayals Arthur tends to either be portrayed already mature and noble despite his mistaken incest, or else because Arthur's brought up as a foster child with no knowledge of his true parents and somewhat in Kai's shadow. (There is a tradition of Merlin as warrior being conflated with Ambrosius Aurelianus, but that depiction involves him being very much a mentor figure and not at all a reluctant servant to an arrogant brat)

Aili revealed herself as a returned last night. It's worth noting that she did this after everyone was required to send their night actions in. I would definitely like to see an explanation of her actions/motivations, including why she was so convinced of Jeo's innocence and believed him to be a valuable contributing member of the innocent people. Also can our great GM offer insight into whether the Pahn Kahl could possibly attack one of their own? I don't think we can assume people to be innocent just because they, at some point, voted for Jeo. Particularly if they hopped on Jeo's bandwagon late when it looked like he was going down, and then switched when they saw a glimmer of hope to save him. *eyes Rick and Rowan* Thanks for the explanation Rowan. I still find the way you bounce to whoever seems to be accumulating votes suspicious, but admit that that's probably a valid playstyle to encourage conversation and voting. In the interest of the other explanation I want to see, I am going to vote for Elo at this current time. Since some people seem to have appreciated the Day 3 summary, here's Day 1 and Day 2. If anyone wants to go through and double-check my work, that would be appreciated. Day 1: Aili votes for Ben Rowan votes for Cog Jeo votes for Dainard Wyrm votes for Thomas Jeo unvotes Dainard and votes for Ben Elo votes for Thomas Rowan unvotes Cog, and votes for Ben Summon votes for Thomas (Ben:3 Thomas:3) Day 2: (By the way, it is a lot harder to do this when people go back and edit their initial vote for someone to green when they decide to vote for someone else. Is that something people are supposed to be doing?) Bartholomew votes for Cog Rick votes for Cog Aodan votes for Cog Fron votes for Bart Cog votes for Aodan Rowan votes for Cog Gammer votes for Aodan Aili votes for Rowan (Cog:4 Aodan:2 Bart:1 Rowan:1) Aodan unvotes Cog Summon votes for Aodan Fron unvotes Bart (Cog:2 Aodan:3 Rowan:1) Bart votes for Aodan (unvoting Cog) Rowan unvotes Cog and votes for Bart (Cog:1 Aodan:4 Bart:1 Rowan:1) Dyrii votes Cog (Cog:2 Aodan:4 Bart:1 Rowan:1) Aodan announces that he is innocent, and declares Cog innocent. Dyrii's vote for Cog will automatically be discounted. Rick's would stay Wilson votes for Swimim Summon unvotes Aodan Bart unvotes Aodan (Cog:1 Aodan:2 Bart:1 Rowan:1 Swimim:1) Cog unvotes Aodan Aili switches her Rowan vote to Cog, which turns out to not be allowed. Summon votes Swimim Peng votes for Alan (Cog:1 Aodan:1 Bart:1 Swimim:2, Alan:1) Grim votes for Bart Bart votes for Swimim Rick unvotes Cog and votes for Swimim. (Aodan:1 Bart:2 Swimim:3 Alan:1) Gammer unvotes Aodan Summon unvotes Swimim Wyrm votes for Chide Grim unvotes Bart, votes for Chide Elo votes for Chide (Bart:1 Swimim:2 Alan:1 Chide:3) Gammer votes for Swimim (Bart:1 Swimim:3 Alan:1 Chide:3) Ailin unvotes Cog(who she couldn't vote for) and votes for Swimim (Bart:1 Swimim:4 Alan:1 Chide:3) Nard votes for Swimim Rowan unvotes Bart and votes for Swimim Wilson unvotes Swimim Tulir votes Swimim Wyrm unvotes Chide and votes for Thomas (swimim 7, chide:2 Thomas:1 Alan:1)

There's also the possibility that some of the people who claimed that they were told not to vote for Jeo by someone were lying entirely. Looking at the pattern of votes is worthwhile, even if the bulk of people, myself included, got overwhelmed and ended up just no participating at all. So in order: Bartholomew gave his breath to Aodan Jeo voted for Ver (V: 1) Cog voted for Jeo (V:1 J:1) Ben voted for Jeo (V:1 J:2) Wyrm voted for Chide (V: 1 J:2 C:1) Jeo retracts vote for Ver, votes for Chide (J: 2 C: 2) Wil'son voted for Jeo (J: 3 C: 2) Dyrii voted for Wil'son (J: 3 C:2 W: 1) Aili voted for Bartholomew(J: 3 C:2 W:1 B:1) Rowan voted for Chide (J: 3 C:3 W:1 B:1) Peng voted for Chide (J: 3 C:4 W:1 B:1) Grim voted for Chide (J: 3 C:5 W:1 B:1) Asgren voted for Jeo, pushing for a tie. (J: 4 C:5 W:1 B:1) Rowan retracts vote for Chide, and votes for Jeo. (J: 5 C:4 W:1 B:1) Rick votes for Jeo (J: 6 C:4 W:1 B:1) Aodan votes for Dyrii (J: 6 C:4 W:1 B:1 D:1) Aili retracts vote for Bartholomew and votes for Dyrii (J:6 C:4 W:1 D:2) Elo votes for Chide (J:6 C:5 W:1 D:2) I'd be interested in an explanation for this decision Jeo tries to convince Ail to vote Chide over Dyrii Jeo retracts vote for Chide, and votes for Dyrii (J:6 C:4 W:1 D:3) Nepene votes for Jeo (J:7 C:4 W:1 D:3) Tril votes for Dyrii (J:7 C:4 W:1 D:4) Summon gives breath to Aodan Rowan retracts vote for Jeo, votes for Dyrii (J: 6 C:4 W:1 D:5) I'd be interested in an explanation here Gammer votes for Jeo (J:7 C:4 W:1 D:5) Grim retracts vote for Chide, votes for Dyrii (J:7 C:3 W:1 D:6) Asgren retracts vote for Jeo, votes for Chide (J:6 C:4 W:1 D:6) Rick retracts vote for Jeo, votes for Dyrii (J:5 C:4 W:1 D:7) Those who failed to vote for one reason or other: Sifa, Cen, Chide, Thomas, Ver, Sart, Dirt, and Dainard.

I read Mistborn to my husband during our 30-hour drive when we moved. He's been a fan and spreading the word of brandon to his coworkers ever since. I gave my father Way of Kings for his birthday last year, which effectively got him and my brother hooked. My father has now read everything that Sanderson's published, and my brother's read Mistborn. My mother is daunted by the length of the books, but talking about finding a time to sit down and find out what we're all raving about. An out of state friend and I swap recommendations frequently, so she's now thoroughly hooked on Brandon Sanderson. Two other friends have him on their "to read" lists, and I contribured to another friend's addiction by joining her husband in encouraging her to read them. No curse so far...

Daughter/son/descendant/child of kings just means that someone is descended from kings, plural in that the title is hereditary. Jezrien was a king, presumably his ancestors were also kings. Jezrien was Shalash's father, therefore Shalash is the daughter of kings. Jezrien is associated with winds and storms, so Shalash is also the daughter of winds. Nothing Brandon has said indicates that there is a fake Shalash running around, and we know that the real Shalash is in the Way of Kings. The fact that he's RAFOd everyone who has asked if Baxil's mistress is Shalash means very little in the way of denial or confirmation. He refers to her as Baxil's mistress because Baxil's mistress is the one that we know smashes up art.

And yet one of the death rattles is: One might argue that Taln says this while in damnation sometime after the death rattle (perhaps at the very moment of his release, even), but even so I find it plausible that, while the death rattles are all significant and revealing, they may not all be exact future events. That Moelach is the most powerful in terms of precognition doesn't mean that he's entirely precognitive. I'm not really objecting to speculating on possible future events. I just think it's a mistake to shut down speculation on potential past events without more concrete confirmation. The different death rattles all have differences in terms of self awareness/viewpoint within the vision, so I think it is a mistake to assume that all the death rattles must refer to something in the same way that the hanging above the void, true glory and broken promises ones do. I do think the death rattle in the original post is interesting in conjunction with the death rattle with the baby. In that context though, it may be worth considering that these come from Moelach, an unmade, and therefore may be limited in their accuracy and worldview, in a similar way to Ruin in the Mistborn books.

To clarify, Aodan, are you preventing Idrians voting for you? Or voting for Cog? If the former, you've managed to declare yourself innocent with no Idrians currently voting for you. Meaning that we have no real way of drawing information from what just happened, (Are Idrians allowed to try to vote for him now? Clancy?) and only your promise that you are the Monk to go on. In this case, it might be wise for the Spy to not contact Aodan until after his role has been verified. In the latter case, we've only got Dyrii voting for Cog. In which case I'm going to ask that Dyrii not change his vote, so that we can see whether it is nullified or not.

I know it's Shalash. Sadly the originals of my quotes all spelled it wrong, and when copy/pasting WoB I prefer to leave it unedited, however painful it is. Go yell at the keepers of the WoB archives and get them to fix it! I'd hesitate to assert it's confirmed, but I think it does qualify for recognized.

The Spy is distinct from the Agents. My guess is there's only one each of Mercenary, Spy, Idrian Agent, Idrian Monk, and Hallendren Agent. In the grand scheme of things, it's much more desirable that they kill agents than the spy. The agents are pretty much indistinguishable from normal people in the eyes of the Pahn Kahl, and only factor into the Idrian v Hallendren subplot. As of now, there appear to be 14 Idrians, and 15 Hallendren, but one of the 15 Hallendren is secretly an Idrian, so there's actually 15 Idrian and 14 Hallendren, except that some of them are Pahn Kahl. If I had to, I'd guess that there's an even number of Pahn Kahl, split evenly over Idrian and Hallendren, but there's nothing to guarantee that (I don't think?), and so it's not a useful assumption at this point. Awesomeness beat me, but I'm going to post anyway because woo rambling.

I think we have confirmation that WoB and WoB and Which is all strongly, strongly suggestive. But I don't think we have direct confirmation.

"Vard?" Sifa called, staring about the empty forge, which should have already been glowing. She was here to pick up the order of barrel hoops her master had placed some time ago. Sifa'd been happy to have the opportunity to work with a fellow countryman. It was eerie to find everything so... abandoned. Could the Idrian diplomat's murder have caused him to flee the town? That didn't seem likely. The young woman hesitated a moment, before dropping the handles of the wheelbarrow she'd brought to cart away the goods, and testing the door to the inner part of the forge to see if she could slip inside. Curiosity was definitely one of her failings, something her superiors would chide her for. Having successfully breached the door, and left it open for light, Sifa looked about herself. There were the hoops at least, piled in a corner waiting to be picked up. They'd already been paid for, so there'd be no harm in at least getting what she'd come for. She wished Vard were here to help her load them up onto the wheelbarrow, her own spindly strength meant having to take quite a number of trips. The apprentice brewer was on her second to last load, when she tripped, sending barrel hoops rolling in every direction in the workspace. Colors. Sifa rose to her feet, rubbing at her banged knee, then began the onerous task of gathering up the hoops from where they'd bounced. She paused, frowning, as she picked up one that had struck the workbench at an odd angle. It couldn't have struck with enough force to crack it, could it? There must be some sort of flaw in the workbench, was she going to have to pay to replace it? That would mean less money to send back... stupid, impatient. She should have just waited, but there was a full day's labour ahead of her. Sifa peered more closely at the crack. Was that a scrap of paper? Curiosity once more overcame her better senses, and she carefully eased the slip out. One scan of it was enough to make it clear that Vard was not the hard-working Idrian he claimed to be. Working more quickly, Sifa finished gathering the hoops, and loading the wheelbarrow, and set off rapidly, taking the long way rather than the shortcut she'd used previously to give her time to think about what she'd discovered. She paused, spotting Jeo, and veered towards him "Are you alr-" she began, then saw the body and gasped. "Vard! But... why would the Hallendren kill their own agent?!" Hope this is acceptable. Also, that explains how very vocal he's been about not pursuing the Hallendren/Idrian conflict. Though I do think he had valid points that focusing on that will let the Pahn Kahl have an easier time of it. This suggests that the Pahn Kahl are focusing on trying to kill the spy/mercenary rather than playing the Hallendren breath lottery. Time to go reread everything. Edit was to fix typos

Would you mind looking this up? I know I've been wondering why people are so confident in asserting that all the death rattles are future predictions, and I haven't found a WoB that seems to corroborate this assertion. The speculation may be from the Chapter 82 epigraph However I don't think this means we can say that all the manifestations are precognitive. They're just more likely to be precognitive than the work of the other unmade.

So someone could win the breath lottery only to die and have their breath either gone or taken? Good to know. Hm.

Sifa dithered, worried and confused. If Metacognition is telling the truth, his actions are actually pretty logical. As an experienced player on the side of the villagers, the Pahn Kahl are quite likely to want him out of the game sooner, rather than later. By making himself suspicious, he may also buy himself some time, as the Pahn Kahl leave him alive to serve as lynch bait. However, he is an experienced player. Which means that if he survives the first round or two of attacks, he's going to rocket up on everyone's suspect lists. Therefore it would make sense to try to do this, and lure as many people into disclosing their abilities, or lack thereof, as possible, passing the information along to his fellow Pahn Kahl until he's finally lynched under the weight of suspicion. Also the idea of becoming a drab meaning that one is no longer a threat to anyone smacks of misdirection. Sure, he may no longer have a breath to steal unlike some other juicy fourth heightened person, but that's obviously different from not being a threat. That's he's looking for returned seems worrisome. Particularly since, unless he's Pahn Kahl, he has no way of knowing whether or not said returned is a Pahn Kahl or not, and if he expects to die immediately, the Pahn Kahl in particular could be quite safe in contacting him. So maybe that is the intention, to lure the Pahn Kahl returned into contacting him, and staying alive long enough to pass the name along. Hm. Or maybe he's genuinely just trying to get everyone shaken up by being crazy and antagonistic to start things rolling beyond everyone standing around and chatting. He's all but guaranteed to have people looking at him tonight, assuming we don't kill him today. So that's... a thing. I honestly don't know if it's better to kill someone inactive, or to twiddle our thumbs until night falls and interesting stuff starts happening. On the one hand, more information is good. On the other hand, giving up actions is bad. If we do go for someone, I'd vote not an Idrian. Lynching the spy the first day would just be sad.

Murder. The word sent a shiver down Sifa's spine as she caught it whispered from one member of the crowd to another. It was appalling, and disappointing on any number of levels. A life, an Idrian life, had been taken. Someone was clearly trying to disrupt the negotiations between Hallendren and Idris. More personally, the murder meant that she was unlikely to receive any letters that Paxen's retinue might have been carrying from the family back home. A stray wisp of ash-blond hair had escaped her braid, and Sifa wrapped it around her finger absently, frowning as she listened to the reactions of those around her. She should really be getting back to check on the boiler as her fellow apprentice, whose job it was, could rarely be counted on to wake up in time, but for just this once he could get what he deserved for his sluggardly ways. Their master would certainly want to hear about this news, and would forgive her tardiness in sticking around so that she could tell him the full story. Feel free to poke me about any problems/mistakes here. Also, just to make triply sure I understand, a Returned could secretly be a Pahn Kahl, but the Mercenary and other roles are guaranteed to not be?

That's an interesting theory, Seloun, but my primary problem with it is that if what Ivory's done is viewed as a betrayal still 6 years after the prologue, why did another spren of the same type who, seemingly, could have prevented/ended that betrayal, suddenly stop and give a gesture of respect instead? It's quite possible that that they decide to adopt a wait and see perspective, or that something explicitly prevented them from continuing to hunt Jasnah, and there's certainly plenty we don't know about spren relations or the bonding process to leave room for that, but I'm not convinced that it's more likely. My initial interpretation was that Ivory's failure to follow through in killing Jasnah in some part constituted his "betrayal." Perhaps the bonding process began without Ivory's intentions, possibly for similar reasons to the situation with the Stormfater, and rather than end the threat to the spren, Ivory instead acknowledge Jasnah's worthiness and pursued deepening the bond, surprising and alarming the other spren. Furthermore, if Ivory was not present here, why? Anytime Shallan goes to Shadesmar, Pattern is quite close, and more obvious than he is in the physical world. I'll agree that both are quite possible with what we currently know. In either situation there's a lot of questions about spren motivations and society that we just don't understand. I'm certainly not convinced that Ivory is the spren from the prologue, however I do think there is as much absence of evidence for either case, and therefore assuming that he is on the grounds of narrative convenience is not unreasonable.